


BELIEF

by costumejail



Series: Zone Five Quarantine Fair [3]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Religion, idk basically im vibing on that clown monk that was gonna be in the na na na video
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24047476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/costumejail/pseuds/costumejail
Summary: The Phoenix Witch and Destroya are the most well-known deities in the zones, but no one can deny the existence of the holy men that wander freely through the zones.
Series: Zone Five Quarantine Fair [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730209
Comments: 9
Kudos: 17





	BELIEF

**Author's Note:**

> Day three of the Zone Five Quarantine Fair for @killjoynest on tumblr. The prompt was belief and I've been wanting to sort out my hc's for that clown monk you can see in the behind the scenes video for na na na.
> 
> EDIT 06/01: I've done a bit of reflection and realized that this concept (and any concept based on Buddhist monasticism) is heavily stealing from Asian cultures that I don't really know anything about, let alone enough to be writing stuff like this about. I'm always trying to educate myself and listen so if anyone would prefer that I take this down then PLEASE leave a comment or shoot me a message and I will.

No one knows where they come from. The holy men. They’re everywhere, though. Motorbabies at bars throughout the zones will down shots and crow over the wildest places they’ve seen the monks. Abandoned motels, the highest peaks of the mountain range in Zone Two, the bottom of the canyon running west from the city, the far edge of Zone Six, flitting in and out of the landscape of thorns. Cherri Cola himself swears that he saw one emerge from the ocean, dripping, put his robes on, and wander off into the desert, but no one listens to the ramblings of a former wavehead. Most sightings happen at sunrise and sunset, they appear out of the static and watch the sun turn the air electric, then vanish like a mirage. 

Rarely, will they interact with other desert dwellers. ‘Joys report seeing them on dunes from afar, but they vanish before any of them have gotten close enough to make out their chants. Some crash queens, late at night, will furtively whisper about times that they’ve walked away from a crash that they shouldn’t have. They’ll open their eyes, head pounding, smelling something sugary sweet, and find smears of red paste on their hands, feet, forehead. It could be anything, they assure listeners, but they’ll always spare a wave at any of the clowns they see. 

Sometimes, undergrads high on their new freedom will take offence at their masks. The red lips and white faces are certainly reminiscent of draculoids. But the hair isn’t the same, curly and bright where dracs are matted and dark, the clothing isn’t even  _ close _ to BL/ind approved, and every now and then a zonerunner will swear up and down that they’ve seen one conversing with their empty mask as if it were a separate person. 

Perhaps more solid proof of their allegiance is that ‘joys have seen the clowns go head to head against a squad of dracs and come out on top. They don’t use weapons, but after seeing them in action, anyone would agree that they do well enough without them. Anyone can tell where the monks have recently fought as they leave behind piles of empty draculoid masks, never bodies or bloodstains. Theories about what they do with the unmasked dracs range from cannibalism, to burying them, to rehabilitation, but the last is probably the least likely. Everyone knows that being masked is a one-way trip, right?

They are holy men, but who or what they worship is a mystery. They’ve been spotted painting the mailbox, polishing the remains of the droid at the nest, their chants are saying something even if none of the other desert-dwellers can make them out. Mostly, ‘joys figure, they keep the zones clean. If a rock ‘n roller sees a flash of orange and yellow in the distance they know they’ve found a safe place to sleep. If the Phoenix Witch protects you in the afterlife, the holy men do so before you’re gone and dusted.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was kinda a weird one because there's even LESS canon material for this than usual so uhhh, if you've got any thoughts let me know! As always, you can also get a hold of me at my tumblr @sleevesareforlosers


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